Altai family

The largest in the Altai family Turkic group(11.2 million people out of 12), which includes Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Yakuts, Tuvinians, Karachais, Khakassians, Balkars, Altaians, Shors, Dolgans, Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, etc. Representatives of this group - Tatars - are the second in number of people of Russia after the Russians.

The largest Turkic peoples (Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashs) are concentrated in the Ural-Volga region.

Other Turkic peoples are settled in the south of Siberia (Altaians, Shors, Khakassians, Tuvans) all the way to the Far East (Yakuts).

The third area of ​​settlement of Turkic peoples is the North Caucasus (Nogais, Karachais, Balkars).

The Altai family also includes: Mongolian group(Buryats, Kalmyks); Tungus-Manchu group(Evens, Evenks, Nanai, Ulchi, Udege, Orochi),

Ural family

The largest of this family Finno-Ugric group, which includes Mordvins, Udmurts, Mari, Komi, Komi-Permyaks, Karelians, Finns, Khanty, Mansi, Estonians, Hungarians, Sami. In addition, this family includes Samoyed group(Nenets, Selkups, Nganasans), Yukaghir group(Yukaghirs). The main area of ​​residence of the peoples of the Uralic language family is the Ural-Volga region and the north of the European part of the country.

North Caucasian family represented mainly by peoples Nakh-Dagestan group(Chechens, Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Ingush, etc.) and Abkhaz-Adyghe group(Kabardians, Adygeis, Circassians, Abazas). The peoples of this family live more compactly, mainly in the North Caucasus.

Representatives also live in Russia Chukotka-Kamchatka family (Chukchi, Koryak, Itelmen); Eskimo-Aleut family (Eskimos, Aleuts); Kartvelian family (Georgians) and peoples of other linguistic families and nations (Chinese, Arabs, Vietnamese, etc.).

The languages ​​of all peoples of Russia are equal, but the language of interethnic communication is Russian.

Russia, being multinational republic in my own way state structure , is federation built on a national-territorial principle.
The federal structure of the Russian Federation is based on its state integrity, the unity of the system of state power, the delimitation of jurisdiction and powers between the bodies of state power of the Russian Federation and the bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, equality and self-determination of peoples in the Russian Federation (Constitution of the Russian Federation, 1993).
The Russian Federation includes 88 subjects, of which 31 are national entities (republics, autonomous okrugs, autonomous region). The total area of ​​national entities is 53% of the territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, only about 26 million people live here, of which almost 12 million are Russian. At the same time, many peoples of Russia are dispersed across various regions of Russia. As a result, a situation has arisen where, on the one hand, some of the peoples of Russia are settled outside their national formations, and on the other hand, within many national formations, the share of the main or “titular” (which gives the name to the corresponding formation) nation is relatively small. Thus, of the 21 republics of the Russian Federation, only in eight the main peoples make up the majority (Chechen Republic, Ingushetia, Tyva, Chuvashia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Tatarstan and Kalmykia. In multi-ethnic Dagestan, ten local peoples (Avars, Dargins, Kumyks, Lezgins, Laks , Tabasarans, Nogais, Rutuls, Aguls, Tsakhurs) form 80% of the total population (see table 11 p. 37 Dronov).The lowest proportion of “titular” peoples are in Karelia (10%) and Khakassia (11%).

A peculiar picture of the settlement of peoples in the autonomous okrugs. They are very sparsely populated and for many decades they attracted migrants from all the republics of the former USSR (Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Belarusians, Chechens, etc.), who came to work - to develop the richest mineral deposits, to build roads, industrial facilities and cities. As a result, the major peoples in most autonomous okrugs (and the only autonomous region) constitute only a small percentage of their total population. For example, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - 2%, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug - 6%, Chukotka - about 9%, etc. Only in one Aginsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug do titular peoples make up the majority (62%).

The dispersion of many peoples and their intensive contacts with other peoples, especially Russians, contribute to their assimilation.

These language families share many similar characteristics. The question is their source. One camp, the “Altaicists,” sees the similarities as a result of common descent from a proto-Altaic language spoken several thousand years ago. Another camp, the “anti-Altaists,” sees similarities as a result of interactions between these linguistic groups. Some linguists believe that both theories are balanced; they are called "skeptics".

Internal classification

According to the most common point of view, the Altaic family includes the Turkic languages, Mongolian languages, Tungus-Manchu languages, and, at most, also the Korean language and the Japanese-Ryukyuan languages ​​(the relationship with the last two groups is most controversial).

External relationship

Within one of the approaches of modern macrocomparative studies, the Altai family is included in the Nostratic macrofamily. This position, however, has been criticized by various specialists, is considered highly controversial and its conclusions are not accepted by many comparativists, who view the theory of Nostratic languages ​​as either, at worst, completely erroneous or as, at best, simply inconclusive. At first, the Altaic and Uralic languages ​​were considered related (Ural-Altaic hypothesis). Currently, scientists have moved away from this idea; only a few of them (D. Nemeth, M. Räsänen, B. Collinder) allow the lexical parallels in the Uralic and Altai languages ​​to be explained by their kinship.

Grammatical characteristics of the parent language and its development

Phonology

Notes

1. Kormushin I.V. Altai languages. // Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. ed. V. N. Yartseva. 1990.
2. Georg et al. 1999: 73-74
3. Altaic languages (undefined) . Encyclopedia Britannica.
4. Interactive Maps The Altaic Family from The Tower of Babel
5. Languages ​​of the world. Turkic languages ​​(1996). P.7
6. Georg et al. 1999: 81
7. 2006. "Methodological Observations on Some Recent Studies of the Early Ethnolinguistic History of Korea and Vicinity." Altai Hakpo 2006, 16: 199-234.
8. Alexander Vovin, 2005. “Koguryǒ and Paekche: Different Languages ​​or Dialects of Old Korean?” Journal of Interior and East Asian Studies, 2005, Vol. 2-2: 108-140.

Language branches, as well as the Korean language isolate. These languages ​​are spoken in northeast Asia, central Asia, Anatolia and eastern Europe (Turks, Kalmyks). The group is named after the Altai Mountains, a mountain range in central Asia.

These language families share many similar characteristics. The question is their source. One camp, the “Altaicists,” sees the similarities as a result of common descent from a proto-Altaic language spoken several thousand years ago. Another camp, the “anti-Altaists,” views the similarities as a result of interactions between these linguistic groups. Some linguists believe that both theories are balanced; they are called "skeptics".

Another opinion accepts the fact of the existence of the Altai family, but includes only the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu branches. This view was common until the 1960s, but has few adherents today.

Internal classification

According to the most common point of view, the Altaic family includes the Turkic languages, Mongolian languages, Tungus-Manchu languages, and, in the maximum version, also the Korean language and the Japanese-Ryukyuan languages ​​(the relationship with the last two groups is hypothetical).

Ancestral home

The name “Altai” indicates the supposed ancestral home of the family (Altai), which, however, according to the latest data, was located further south, in the territory of what is now Northern China (Manchuria - Hongshan Culture). Until the beginning of AD. e. Altai was inhabited by Indo-European tribes (Pazyryk culture). The “Altaians” began to explore Siberia during the Glazkov culture (2nd millennium BC). They invaded Japan in the Yayoi era (1st millennium BC).

External relationship

In modern macrocomparative studies, the Altai family is included in the Nostratic macrofamily. The assumption about the special affinity of the Altai languages ​​with the Uralic languages ​​(the hypothesis of the Ural-Altaic family of languages ​​has existed since the 18th century) can be removed within the framework of the Nostratic theory; The specific convergences of the Ural and Altai languages ​​in the field of vocabulary, word formation and typology are explained by similar habitats and numerous contacts at different chronological levels.

Grammatical characteristics of the parent language and its development

Phonology

Phonological systems of modern times. Altaic languages ​​have a number of common properties. Consonantism: restrictions on the occurrence of phonemes in the position of the beginning of a word, a tendency to weaken in the initial position, restrictions on the combinability of phonemes, a tendency towards an open syllable. Noisy plosives are usually contrasted by strength-weakness or by sonority-dullness; glottalization does not occur. There are no phonologically relevant postvelars (uvulars in Turkic languages ​​are allophones of velars for back vowels). These systems are a development of the next system of phonemes, restored for the Proto-Altaic language.

Proto-Altai consonantism is reconstructed in the following form:

Vocalism included 5 monophthongs (*i, *e, *u, *o, *a) and 3 diphthongs (*ia, *io, *iu), which may have been prefixed monophthongs: *ä; *ö; *ü. Diphthongs occur only in the first syllable. For Proto-Altaic, the absence of synharmonicity is restored. The vocalism of most Altai languages ​​is characterized by synharmonism of various types; synharmonic systems are reconstructed at least for the Proto-Turkic and Proto-Mongolian languages. Some languages ​​have long vowels, as well as rising diphthongs (in the Tungus-Manchu, some Turkic languages; for a certain period of development of the Mongolian languages).

There is practically no phonologically significant force stress in the Altaic languages. The languages ​​of the Japanese-Korean branch are characterized by systems with musical stress; the Proto-Korean-Japanese tone system is being reconstructed. Tone and phonation prosodic differences are noted in individual Turkic languages. For the proto-language, apparently, the opposition of vowels by long-shortness (according to the Turkic-Tungus-Manchurian correspondences) and by tone (high-low, according to the Japanese-Korean correspondences) was relevant.

General trends in phonetic changes in the Altaic languages ​​are a tendency to establish synharmonism of various types, complex positional changes, reduction of the phonological system in anlaut, compression and simplification of combinations, leading to a decrease in the length of the root. This caused a sharp increase in the number of homonymous roots, compensated by the fusion of roots with affixal elements, which makes it difficult to identify ancestral roots, establish their meanings and compare them within the framework of the Altai theory.

Morphology

In the field of morphology, the Altaic languages ​​are characterized by agglutination of the suffix type. There are also certain typological differences: if Western Turkic languages ​​are a classic example of agglutinative ones and have almost no fusion, then in Mongolian morphology we find a number of fusional processes, as well as not only morphonological, but also morphological distributions of affixes, that is, a clear movement in the direction of inflection. The Eastern Turkic languages, which came under Mongolian influence, also developed a powerful fusion.

Grammatical categories of names in the Altai languages ​​of the mainland branch - number, accessory, case; in Japanese and Korean - case. Number affixes are characterized by great diversity and a tendency to string together several plural indicators within one word form and then glue them together into one; many indicators reveal material similarities with the suffixes of collective names, from which they apparently originate. The easy transition of the meaning of the affix from derivational collective to grammatical plurality is associated with the nature of the use of the plural in the Altai languages: it is expressed only in a marked case, sometimes only lexically. For Proto-Altaic, a large number of collective affixes with various shades of meaning are restored.

Affixes of belonging in the Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​go back to postpositive personal pronouns, and in the Turkic languages ​​they form a special system (possibly also going back to personal pronouns); the special affix of belonging to the 3rd person -ni, which is not reducible to the pronouns of the 3rd person, is raised to the proto-Altai state. In the Tungus-Manchu languages, 1st person plural affixes are distinguished, like personal pronouns, inclusiveness and exclusivity. In all three mainland families, the 3rd person form is used to express certainty.

Almost all Altai case systems are characterized by a nominative case with a zero indicator; the zero case form is also used for many postpositions. This form is also restored for the proto-language. The affixes of the accusative, genitive, partitive, dative and instrumental cases are also reconstructed. There are a number of common indicators with localization, directionality and similar meanings, partially involved in languages ​​in nominal paradigms, partially manifested in adverbial formations. These indicators are often attached to each other and to the case affixes of the “main” cases, initially to express shades of localization-directive meanings; then subtle differences are erased and etymologically complex case indicators arise.

The personal pronouns of the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​show significant overlap (cf. the difference between direct (bi-) and indirect (m-) stems in 1st person pronouns; the stem of the 2nd person pronoun in Mongolian languages ​​(*t- > n-) differs from Turkic and Tungus-Manchu (s-). In Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu, inclusive and exclusive pronouns of the 1st person plural are distinguished. Possessive pronouns are derived from personal pronouns; in Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​there are reflexive possessive pronouns. Demonstrative pronouns coincide formally and semantically in Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages; in Turkic there is an ancient system (there are three degrees of range). In Korean, there are common demonstrative pronouns i (*e) 'this' and te with Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages 'that'. Two interrogative pronouns are restored with a personal/non-personal opposition. In Mongolian languages ​​there is a special category of place verbs (etymologically - verbs derived from demonstrative and interrogative pronouns); This category also includes the negative verb e-, common to the Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages.

Contrary to the often expressed opinion, the system of common numerals from 1 to 10 is reconstructed for the Altai languages.

In the Altai verb, two original verbal forms are found: the imperative mood (in the form of a pure stem) and the desirable mood (in -s-). Other finite forms etymologically represent various verbal names, standing in the predicate position, or formalized by predicative affixes (usually expressing person and number). The indicators of these verbal names (which now play the role of aspectual-temporal and fulfillment) show significant material similarity, but their original semantics and use are greatly obscured by intrasystem changes. The category of voice in the Altai languages ​​is rather word-formative; with general structural similarity, it retains few materially identical indicators. The Turkic and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​are characterized by the inclusion of the category of negation in the verbal paradigm, but its indicators do not coincide. There are several common modal indicators. Personal agreement of verb forms is represented in inner circle languages; its indicators ultimately go back to personal pronouns. In Japanese and Korean, the developed category of politeness acts as a functional analogue of personal agreement.

Altaic languages ​​demonstrate a significant number of common derivational indicators, mainly nouns from verbs and verbs from nouns.

Syntax

Altaic languages ​​are languages ​​of the nominative system with a predominant word order SOV and preposition of definition. In the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​there are izafet constructions with a possessive indicator for the word being defined. The existential way of expressing possession is mainly used (that is, “I have” and not “I have”), except in Mongolian, where possession is expressed using a special adjective in -taj (such as “I am a horse”; adjectives of possession and non-possession are and in other mainland Altai languages). In Japanese and Korean sentences, actual division is necessarily formally expressed. The term “Altai type of complex sentence” is associated with the preference given by Altai languages ​​to absolute constructions with a verb in a non-finite form over subordinate clauses.

History of the study

The emergence of scientific altaic studies is associated with the name of B. Ya. Vladimirtsov, G. J. Ramstedt and N. N. Poppe. G. Ramstedt substantiated the kinship not only of the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages, but also of Korean. Subsequently, R. Miller put forward, and S. A. Starostin finally substantiated the belonging to the same family of the Japanese language. A number of researchers (A. M. Shcherbak, A. Vovin, S. Georg, G. Derfer, J. Jankhunen) consider the relationship of the Altai languages ​​unproven, leaving only the areal and typological status for the Altai community. The main claims are raised by the vocabulary introduced into the Altai comparison: it is argued that all Altai lexical comparisons can be explained by borrowings from different times and that the words that are common to the Altai languages ​​are the words that in their meaning belong to the “permeable” parts of the lexical system. The real basis of this view is as follows: the comparative procedure in the Altaic languages ​​actually has to face the disturbing factor of repeatedly renewed close contacts between the Turks, Mongols and Tungus-Manchus, as a result of which the vocabulary of any mainland Altaic language is full of borrowings from other Altaic languages. Supplementing the Altaic comparison with Japanese and Korean significantly increases the reliability of the lexical comparison, reducing the likelihood of lexical matches being explained by early contact.

Notes

Literature

• Akhatov G. Kh. Local dialects - a reliable source for the comparative historical study of languages" // "Issues of dialectology of Turkic languages". Baku, 1963.
• Baskakov N. A. Altai family of languages ​​and its study. - M., 1981.
• Kormushin I.V. Verb tense systems in Altai languages. - M., 1984.
• Kotvich V. Research on Altai languages. - M., 1962.
• Ramstedt G.I. Introduction to Altai linguistics. - M. 1957.
• Starostin S. A. Altai problem and the origin of the Japanese language. - M., 1991.
• Achatow G. Unsere vielsprachige Welt. - Berlin: NL, 1986.
• Haguenauer, Charles: Nouvelles recherches comparées sur le japonais et les langues altaïques, Paris: l’Asiathèque, 1987
• Miller R.A. Japanese and the other Altaic languages. - Chicago, 1971.
• Poppe N. Vergleichende Grammatik der Altaischen Sprachen, 1. Wiesbaden, 1960.
• Ramstedt G.J. Einführung in die altaische Sprachwissenschaft, Lautlehre. Helsinki, 1957.
• Starostin S.A., Dybo A.V., Mudrak O.A. The etymological dictionary of Altaic languages. Leiden, Brill, 2003.

Links

• Altai etymological database on the website “Tower of Babel” by S. A. Starostin.

Language families of Eurasia
Language families	Abkhaz-Adyghe Austroasiatic Austronesian Andaman Dravidian Yenisei Indo-European Kartvelian Mongolian Miao-Yao Nakh-Dagestan Semitic Sino-Tibetan Tai-Kadai Tungus-Manchu Turkic Ural Chukchi-Kamchatka Shompen Eskimo-Aleutian Yukaghir Pono-Ryukyuan
Isolated languages	Ainu Basque Burushaski Korean Kusunda Nakhali Nivkh
Disappeared

I suggest you familiarize yourself with interesting information about the mighty Altai family.

The peoples of the Altai family constitute the second largest group of the country's population. All five of its groups are represented in Russia: Turkic, Tungus-Manchu, as well as Mongolian, Korean and Japanese. The most numerous (over 8% of the population) is Turkic, uniting the Chuvash (whose language is classified as a special subgroup of Turkic languages), Tatars (including Siberian and Astrakhan Tatars, as well as Kryashens, included in the census as part of the Tatars, but distinguished by many researchers into a separate people), Nagaibaks, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Nogais, Kumyks, Karachais, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks, Karaites, Azerbaijanis, Turks and Meskhetian Turks, Turkmen, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Altaians, Telengits, Teleuts, Tubalars, Kumandins, Chelkans, Chulyms, Shors, Khakass, Tuvans (including Tuvans-Todzhins), Tofalars, Yakuts, Dolgans.

The most numerous Turkic people and the second largest people in the country are the Tatars, living in the Volga region (primarily in Tataria), the Urals, Western Siberia (Siberian Tatars) and in large cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg). A compact group is formed by the Astrakhan Tatars in the Lower Volga region. The Tatars previously included the Nagaibaks of the Chelyabinsk region. The Chuvash, the fourth largest people in Russia, are concentrated mainly in Chuvashia, where they form the majority of the population. The Bashkirs, who rank fifth in number, are concentrated primarily in their republic. Kazakhs are settled in the regions of Russia adjacent to Kazakhstan, especially in the Astrakhan, Orenburg and Omsk regions.

In the North Caucasus live Nogais (Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia and Stavropol Territory), Kumyks (Dagestan) and Karachays (Karachay-Cherkessia) and Balkars (Kabardino-Balkaria) speaking the same Karachay-Balkar language. Similar in language to the North Caucasian Turks are the Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks (Crimean Jews) and Karaites, who previously lived mainly in the Crimea, but now live in many other regions. Azerbaijanis in Russia form a compact group in the south of Dagestan; In recent years, many migrants from Azerbaijan have arrived in Moscow and other cities of the Russian Federation, and the number of Azerbaijanis has almost doubled. Meskhetian Turks live in Ch. arr. in the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories.

Dispersed settlement is typical for Turkmen (in the Stavropol Territory there is a compact group of them - the Trukhmen), Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz, who are not against it. The Turkic peoples of Altai and adjacent areas - Altaians, Telengits, Teleuts, Tubalars, Kumandins and Chelkans - were united into a single people; Chulyms living in the Tomsk region and Krasnoyarsk Territory were previously included in the Tatars or Khakass. Other Turkic peoples of Southern Siberia: Shors in the Kemerovo region, Khakass in Khakassia, Tuvans in Tuva (including the north-eastern group of Tuvinians-Todzha), Tofalars in the Irkutsk region, Soyots in Buryatia (who switched to the Buryat language, as a result of which in previous censuses included in the Buryats.The furthest to the north of the Turkic peoples live the Yakuts in Yakutia and the Dolgans in the Taimyr (Dalgan-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug.

The peoples of the Mongolian group in Russia include Kalmyks, living mainly in Kalmykni, Buryats in Buryatia, Aginsko-Buryat, Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug and Mongols, the most noticeable group of which is in the Irkutsk region.

Also in those regions (in Eastern Siberia, partly in the Far East) live small peoples of the Tungus-Manchu group: Evenki, Ulchi, Nanai, Orochi, Orok, Udege and, conditionally, Tazy. The most widely settled of them are the Evenks, who live in the main. in Yakutia, as well as in the Khabarovsk Territory, Evenki Autonomous District, Buryatia, Amur Region. and etc.

Most Evens live in Yakutia, but are also found in the Magadan region, Khabarovsk Territory, and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Nanais, Negidals, Ulchis, and Udeges live in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, and the Ulta live on Sakhalin. The Tazy, who live mainly in the village of Mikhailovka in the Primorsky Territory and are related by origin to the Nanai Udege, now speak Russian as well as Chinese. Representatives of other groups of the Altai family also live in Dalny: Koreans on Sakhalin, Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories.

There are a large number of language families and a wide variety of languages ​​in the world. There are more than 6,000 of the latter on the planet. Most of them belong to the world's largest language families, which are distinguished by their lexical and grammatical composition, related origins, and the common geographic location of their speakers. However, it should be noted that community of residence is not always an integral factor.

In turn, the world's language families are divided into groups. They are distinguished according to a similar principle. There are also languages ​​that do not belong to any of the identified families, as well as so-called isolated languages. It is also common for scientists to distinguish macrofamilies, i.e. groups of language families.

Indo-European family

The most fully studied is the Indo-European language family. It began to be distinguished in ancient times. However, relatively recently, work began to study the Proto-Indo-European language.

The Indo-European language family consists of groups of languages ​​whose speakers live across vast areas of Europe and Asia. So, the German group belongs to them. Its main languages ​​are English and German. Also a large group is Romance, which includes French, Spanish, Italian and other languages. In addition, Eastern European peoples who speak languages ​​of the Slavic group also belong to the Indo-European family. These are Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, etc.

This language family is not the largest in terms of the number of languages ​​it includes. However, these languages ​​are spoken by almost half of the world's population.

Afro-Asian family

Languages ​​representing the Afro-Asiatic language family are spoken by more than a quarter of a million people. It includes Arabic, Egyptian, Hebrew, and many others, including extinct languages.

This family is usually divided into five (six) branches. These include the Semitic branch, the Egyptian, Chadian, Cushitic, Berber-Libyan and Omotian. In general, the Afro-Asiatic family includes more than 300 languages ​​of the African continent and parts of Asia.

However, this family is not the only one on the continent. Other unrelated languages ​​exist in large numbers, especially to the south, in Africa. There are at least 500 of them. Almost all of them were not presented in writing until the 20th century. and were used only orally. Some of them are purely oral to this day.

Nilo-Saharan family

The language families of Africa also include the Nilo-Saharan family. The Nilo-Saharan languages ​​are represented by six language families. One of them is Songhai Zarma. The languages ​​and dialects of the other family, the Saharan family, are common in Central Sudan. There is also a family of mamba, whose carriers inhabit Chad. Another family, the Fur, is also common in Sudan.

The most complex is the Shari-Nile language family. It, in turn, is divided into four branches, which consist of language groups. The last family - coma - is widespread in Ethiopia and Sudan.

The language families represented by the Nilo-Saharan macrofamily have significant differences among themselves. Accordingly, they represent great difficulty for linguistic researchers. The languages ​​of this macrofamily were greatly influenced by the Afro-Asian macrofamily.

Sino-Tibetan family

The Sino-Tibetan language family has more than a million speakers of its languages. First of all, this became possible due to the large Chinese population speaking Chinese, which is part of one of the branches of this language family. In addition to it, this branch includes the Dungan language. It is they who form a separate branch (Chinese) in the Sino-Tibetan family.

The other branch includes more than three hundred languages, which are classified as the Tibeto-Burman branch. There are approximately 60 million native speakers of its languages.

Unlike Chinese, Burmese and Tibetan, most languages ​​of the Sino-Tibetan family do not have a written tradition and are passed down from generation to generation exclusively orally. Despite the fact that this family has been studied deeply and for a long time, it still remains insufficiently studied and hides many as yet unrevealed secrets.

North and South American languages

Currently, as we know, the vast majority of North and South American languages ​​belong to the Indo-European or Romance families. When settling the New World, European colonists brought their own languages ​​with them. However, the dialects of the indigenous population of the American continent did not disappear completely. Many monks and missionaries who arrived from Europe to America recorded and systematized the languages ​​and dialects of the local population.

Thus, the languages ​​of the North American continent north of present-day Mexico were represented in the form of 25 language families. Later, some experts revised this division. Unfortunately, South America has not been studied as well linguistically.

Language families of Russia

All the peoples of Russia speak languages ​​belonging to 14 language families. In total, there are 150 different languages ​​and dialects in Russia. The basis of the country's linguistic wealth is made up of four main language families: Indo-European, North Caucasian, Altai, Uralic. Moreover, most of the country's population speaks languages ​​belonging to the Indo-European family. This part makes up 87 percent of the total population of Russia. Moreover, the Slavic group occupies 85 percent. It includes Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian, which make up the East Slavic group. These languages ​​are very close to each other. Their speakers can understand each other almost without difficulty. This is especially true for the Belarusian and Russian languages.

Altaic language family

The Altai language family consists of the Turkic, Tungus-Manchu and Mongolian language groups. The difference in the number of representatives of their speakers in the country is great. For example, Mongolian is represented in Russia exclusively by Buryats and Kalmyks. But the Turkic group includes several dozen languages. These include Khakass, Chuvash, Nogai, Bashkir, Azerbaijani, Yakut and many others.

The group of Tungus-Manchu languages ​​includes Nanai, Udege, Even and others. This group is in danger of extinction due to the preference of their native peoples to use Russian on the one hand and Chinese on the other. Despite the extensive and long-term study of the Altai language family, it is extremely difficult for specialists to decide on the reproduction of the Altai proto-language. This is explained by the large number of borrowings by its speakers from other languages ​​due to close contact with their representatives.

Ural family

The Uralic languages ​​are represented by two large families - Finno-Ugric and Samoyed. The first of them includes Karelians, Mari, Komi, Udmurts, Mordovians and others. The languages ​​of the second family are spoken by the Enets, Nenets, Selkups, and Nganasans. The bearers of the Ural macrofamily are to a large extent Hungarians (more than 50 percent) and Finns (20 percent).

The name of this family comes from the name of the Ural ridge, where the formation of the Uralic proto-language is believed to have taken place. The languages ​​of the Uralic family had some influence on their neighboring Slavic and Baltic languages. In total, there are more than twenty languages ​​of the Uralic family both on the territory of Russia and abroad.

North Caucasian family

The languages ​​of the peoples of the North Caucasus present a huge challenge for linguists in terms of their structuring and study. The concept of a North Caucasian family itself is rather arbitrary. The fact is that the languages ​​of the local population are too little studied. However, thanks to the painstaking and in-depth work of many linguists studying this issue, it became clear how disjointed and complex many of the North Caucasian dialects are.

Difficulties concern not only the actual grammar, structure and rules of the language, for example, as in the Tabasaran language - one of the most complex languages ​​on the planet, but also pronunciation, which is sometimes simply inaccessible to people who do not speak these languages.

A significant obstacle for specialists studying them is the inaccessibility of many mountainous regions of the Caucasus. However, this language family, despite all the contradictions, is usually divided into two groups - Nakh-Dagestan and Abkhaz-Adyghe.

Representatives of the first group inhabit mainly the regions of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia. These include Avars, Lezgins, Laks, Dargins, Chechens, Ingush, etc. The second group consists of representatives of related peoples - Kabardians, Circassians, Adygeis, Abkhazians, etc.

Other language families

The language families of the peoples of Russia are not always extensive, uniting many languages ​​into one family. Many of them are very small, and some are even isolated. Such nationalities primarily live in Siberia and the Far East. Thus, the Chukchi-Kamchatka family unites the Chukchi, Itelmen, and Koryaks. Aleuts and Eskimos speak Aleut-Eskimo.

A large number of nationalities scattered across the vast territory of Russia, being extremely few in number (several thousand people or even less), have their own languages ​​that are not included in any known language family. Like, for example, the Nivkhs, who inhabit the banks of the Amur and Sakhalin, and the Kets, located near the Yenisei.

However, the problem of linguistic extinction in the country continues to threaten Russia's cultural and linguistic diversity. Not only individual languages, but also entire language families are under threat of extinction.